: 5 reasons why you should nurture an active community of brand advocates #IndiaNEWS #Guest Post Germin8s Digital Marketing Executive, Darshit Shah gives some tips to help understand Brand Advocates

5 reasons why you should nurture an active community of brand advocates #IndiaNEWS #Guest Post
Germin8s Digital Marketing Executive, Darshit Shah gives some tips to help understand Brand Advocates and how harnessing the true power of your advocate community can increase brand presence both in-person and online.

Consider two scenarios when you are about to make a purchase – first, you see an ad about a product or service that does seem interesting, but the question of quality and authenticity deters you from making a purchase. Second, the same product is recommended to you by a friend or family member who has used it and can vouch for the quality. More often than not, the second scenario is likely to convert into a purchase. This is why brand advocates and advocacy is important for anyone who is selling something.

Who is a brand advocate?

Brand advocates can be your existing customers, employees, influencers, or business partners. What sets this community apart from other promotional activities is that these people recommend a business to others voluntarily, without being paid to do so by the brand. These advocates are not only loyal to your brand, but help boost revenue bypromoting your products/services to new audiences via online reviews, customer referrals, user-generated content (UGC), word-of-mouth recommendations, and social media posts

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Why should you focus on engaging brand advocates?

Chances are that your brand advocates are already existing around you. The first step is to identify them and create a community. Next, focus on nurturing this set of loyal, vocal customers. Ensure that you give back to your brand advocates by acknowledging them and giving them exposure. Celebrate their achievements and showcase them in your brand’s content like newsletters, blogs, etc. to build a long-term relationship. 76% of people find content or recommendations by actual consumers to be more honest and believable than advertising by brands – while this is reason enough for brands to nurture an active brand advocate community, here are five more reasons to do so:

It is an organic, free or almost-free form of marketingAuthenticity is the key factor in brand advocacy since the promotion from your brand advocates is purely organic in nature. Your community of advocates offer dual benefits as not only it is a completely natural form of marketing that leads to long- term loyalty, but it costs you almost nothing compared to other marketing activities. Brand advocacy humanises your brandNo matter how much technology makes things faster and easier, nothing can beat human interaction – and that is exactly what brand advocates do for a business.